Saturday, February 17, 2007

bandy!

Well, the cold snap has broken. You know it was a evil long one, when anything over 20 feels damned good. I even saw a couple of kids in shorts today. Crazy.

At these temps, it's damned unfun to bike, so some of our team does other stuff. And they kick ASS at other stuff. You heard about the skiiers, but Kristy Powell is a bandy player. If you don't feel like going to wikipedia, bandy is "field hockey on ice."

So... here's Kristy's reports on 2007 Women's Bandy World Championships in Budapest, Hungrary. Kristy's on Team USA 2007. Wish I could tell you which one she is, but... I've only ever seen her clothed... and it's HARD to pick out who is who when everyone is in a team jersey. :P

Well, the USA Women's Bandy Team departs on February 10th for Budapest Hungary for the 3rd ever World Championships in Women's Bandy. Before I take off with the team, I wanted to provide some information to you in case you are curious as to how we are doing.

1) Web site for the Women's National Team (where you can find the link to the Tournament info)http://wwc2007.usabandy.com/

There, you can select the link to "2007 Women's World Cup", which is the tournament site. You can see the tournament schedule, standings/results, photos, and even view "game live" --- a broadcasting via the internet of the games!

2) If you want to see the venue where we are playing, you can go to this site...there's even a webcam for the rink! (Check it out - the rink is in front of a castle!) http://www.mujegpalya.hu/

3) Support us as we make this trip AND get a cool souvenir!http://www.cafepress.com/womensbandy

Thanks for everyone's support so far!From Team USA and myself,Kristy #6

Hey All!WE'RE HERE!!!23 hours of travel later, and we're in the "Pesht" side of Budapest. It's beautiful (as far as architecture goes)...the weather...well...let's just say "not the best bandy weather" --- I guess yesterday it was 60 degrees and rainy, thus standing water on the ice. I'm not looking forward to that, but I guess that's one of the beauties of bandy - you never know what the elements will do to your game!

We traveled a round about way....Minneapolis to DC, DC to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Vienna, Vienna to Budapest via bus.

We will watch Hungary vs. Canada tonight (9:00 pm), and for those of you wondering "what time is it there?" It is 4:02 PM on Sunday - but that's 9:02 AM Sunday for you folks back home.

Well, time to brush the teeth, get changed, head out on the town for a couple of hours before the team dinner and viewing of the game.

More later --- and I do have access to the internet easily! *yeaye!* So I'll keep you all informed!

Hey All!We started out slow against Finland this morning - must have been a lot of jet lag, or the fact that we were traveling for 20 + hours YESTERDAY and had to jump on the ice first thing...who knows...anyway - we didn't play OUR game like we could have and we lost. We did have some good points, and we skated away with our heads still high, looking towards our next competition - Hungary. We skated away from that with a 10-0 win. I had a pretty good game personally, but will step it up in the next game - can never be too statisfied.

We face Russia tomorrow --- should be a tough game, but good. Russia takes on Sweden tonight - a great rivalry which I'll be sure to watch.

Weather conditions aren't all that great, surprisingly. You would all love to be out of the MN cold and be in the 50 + temps here, but that causes about an inch to 2" of water to gather on the ice. Not easy to carry the ball with or slide on. When you do slide --- you can bet that you'll be water logged. I was able to ring out the inside of my skates --- that's NEVER a good sign. Needless to say, I'm in the hotel room right now with the hair dryer blowing the insides of my skates so I can put them back on for opening ceremonies tonight.

This may have typos or be short --- I have a bandage on my finger due to taking a few shots and sticks to the finger. All is OK -- just a bruise from playing Russia. We lost that game, although we played well. Today, we came out with our full force and intensity and managed to pull off a first in USA Bandy - we shut out Sweden and we tied them 0-0!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's an awesome accomplishment, and I'm sure many of you have heard me talk about how great Sweden is!

We have a game again this afternoon against NOrWAY. We have to beat them...and I am positive we can if we play our game.

As one of our teammates said (mary Hannula) - our ability to skate with the Swedes has a lot to do with the off ice training we did - Danielle - we'll see you many times to come. I have found my explosion of speed off of the line while defending a corner stroke has allowed me to take the ball from the other teams close to 10 times now (and gave me the owie on my finger...but it was worth it, the ball didn't go in!)

GO USA!

Today Norway, tomorrow Canada - we will show them how we are United as one!